The capacitive characteristics of a semiconductor device can affect device performance in an adverse fashion. Metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) devices having, for example, a high gate-drain capacitance (Cgd) can be problematic for at least some device applications. Some MOSFET devices can have a shield electrode and a gate electrode disposed within a dielectric filled trench. The combination of the shield electrode and gate electrode within the MOSFET device can be advantageous over conventional MOSFET devices that have only a gate electrode in that the shield electrode can help reduce the Cgd and improve the breakdown voltage of the transistor. With the miniaturization of electronic devices, cell pitches, and sizes of device features (e.g., D, the separation of the capacitor plates), even trench MOSFET devices having shielded gate configurations may have high gate-drain capacitances undesirable for device applications.